Travis Bible
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 Alfred W.
Crosby (1986)
Ecological Imperialism posits that, “…the success of European imperialism has a
biological, an ecological, component,” (p. 7). Alfred Crosby’s aim is impressive: to write
a biogeographic account of European expansion, starting some 200 million years ago and
crossing the globe countless time. His approach is ingenious, by not divorcing human
species from its environment, and especially its portmanteau botia (“extended family of
plants, animals, and microlife” from Europe), the reader gets a holistic view of larger
processes at work (p. 89). The thesis, though buried deep, is clear. “The success of the
portmanteau biota and of its dominate member, the European human, was a team effort
by organisms that had evolved in conflict and cooperation over a long time” (p.293)
The work begins from the present looking back. Crosby tells us that NeoEuropeans are nearly everywhere and we need to find out how this has happened. The
reader is then whisked away 200 million years to the super-continent Pangaea and its
breakup allowing isolated areas to evolve. Homo Sapiens come along a few million years
later with big brains that allowed them to use tools and form culture. They spread across
the globe by means of land bridges, mass land migration, or sea voyages. Crosby’s
explanation for Old World domination is now set: the Neolithic Revolution, with its
technological innovations and advance farming and animal husbandry techniques
(allowing for the creation of cities and high populations), allowed for the genetic and
acquired adaptations to some of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Crosby then examines some of the first attempts by Europeans to conquer foreign
lands the Norse in the North Atlantic and Europe in general during the Crusades. He
argues these early unmitigated failures were necessary for future articulation of
2
imperialism. The Norse failed due to the long distances and the unforgiving climate of
their newly conquered lands; the Crusaders because the large indigenous populations they
faced and the fact that the disease environment worked against them.
The author sees the Fortunate Isles (the Canaries, Maderas, and Azores) as the
first successful imperial ventures of early modern Europe, and as such it was a template
for later adventures. Although the native Guanche were: numerically superior, familiar
with the terrain, fierce fighters, and not all that technologically inferior, they lost
sovereignty and were virtually exterminated. Crosby attributes their (and most every
other native group) demise to many factors including disunity among natives and
European technological advantage, but his main argument is that with the arrival of
Europeans came wild ecological oscillations (p. 91). Included in this; the spread of new
plants, animals, and disease. Plants presented some new food stuffs for natives; however
this often meant a drastic departure from traditional land uses (subsistence farming to
plantations), which in turn meant changes in social structure. New animals presented a
similar paradox. Virgin Soil Epidemics threaten not only individual’s survival, but also
that of the culture. Crops went unplanted, fields and herds unattended, and the societies
faltered.
The next sections of the book examined the development of maritime
technologies that enabled “the closing of Pangaea.” Crosby then goes into how each
facet of ecological imperialism worked to the Old World’s advantage. Its flora (i.e.
weeds) were able to fill ecological voids the “…invaders tore in the earth” (p. 170). Its
fauna (including bovine, rats, rabbits, horses, bees, and pigs) adapted unimaginable well,
oftentimes going feral, in new lands. With European contact disease and epidemics soon
3
followed, clearing the way for a new people. Indeed these tragedies proved to be the
biggest allies for European conquest and hegemony.
Crosby’s monograph crosses many disciplines including: geology, geography,
anthropology, maritime theory, religion (often poorly, though sometimes witty),
economics, and histology. While his efforts are laudable, the reader must constantly
question the author’s creditability on certain subjects. On more than one occasion Crosby
makes what are at best poor jokes, or at worst gross intellectual negligence, by assuming
knowledge of distant (and even extinct) cosmologies and cultures. At one point he
asserts that, “The Guanches must have wondered if superior fishhooks were an indication
of superior gods…” with out footnote or explanation (p. 88).
Moreover, the author never deals explicitly with Social Darwinism, a theme that
lurks behind many of his gross generalizations. To his credit he notes that, “There is little
or nothing intrinsically superior about Old World organism compared with those of the
Neo-Europes” (p. 290). However, Crosby’s holistic approach sometimes acts as a type of
apogee for (Neo) European atrocities. Beyond simple sensibilities and political
correctness, Ecological Imperialism also lacks some analytical strength. The reader is
left to wonder about the conquest (or rather amalgamation) of Mexico and other similar
events in climates dissimilar to that of Europe.
Crosby’s prose are concise, fluid, and comprehendible, though a bit erratic and
even redundant at times. Relying mostly on secondary sources, Crosby does occasionally
allow European and even Native voices to chime in. However, his underlying causes for
European ecological imperialism seem to simply blame the victim: if only those native
people had not isolated themselves than they might have had better immune systems and
4
would have had a chance at survival. Or to put it another way: Europeans crammed
themselves into dirty overcrowded cities next to their animals and got sick very often,
after a time this built up their immunities and they eventually spread disease, along with
their own flora and fauna, around the planet committing eco/genocide in the process.